Saturday, November 16, 2013

Last day in Labuan. Since my flight
was in the evening, I still had time to
continue exploring the island. Quick stop to the nearby morning market
at Labuan Walk for breakfast. Luckily this market is just across the street
from the hotel.

Honestly,
I was expecting some kuih or nasi lemak or fried mee there but no no no.. There
was no such thing. If I remember correctly, they had cakes, drinks and more
cakes. Very odd.. No choice, I ended up with milo and cheese cake for breakfast
hahahaha.

Muzium Labuan & Labuan Square

From Labuan Walk, if u walk towards the opposite direction from
the hotel, u will reach a roundabout and a big field named Labuan Square.

I guess this is where
official big functions like marching for Merdeka celebration and such are
celebrated. One side of the field is a small garden for people to laze around. Easy
said, it looks like Merdeka Square in KL.

Across the street from
the garden is Labuan Muzium. Front of the museum is very serene with big old
trees and some monuments.

Bazar Labuan

Since I don’t have any
bags to check in, souvenir of choice for this trip is just fridge market. Best place
to find all those are here in Bazar Labuan. Unfortunately, most of the shops
were closed due to Chinese New Year holiday. But in short, u can find magnets,
pearls, clothing and few tailors as well.

Nearby is the daily market. The market mostly sells seaweeds and
some local snacks. As for seaweeds, there are few types and u can buy either
readily packed or ask the aunties to pack as per requested weight. RM14 for 1kg
of seaweed.

Patau-patau Water Village
& Lunch at Kina Benuwa Mangrove

Nasi lalapan for lunch. I’m
not a big fan of sambal belacan but the sambal belancan here was superb; balanced mixed
of belacan and chillies.

The Chimney

Deemed as a mystery
structure due to unidentified background for bulding such structure is the
Chimney. In the compound u can find the information center, historical complex
and the chimney itself.

“This
chimney was built in the year of 80's and the usage of it is still a mystery.
It is stated that there is no traces of smoke and whatsoever that indicate that
it works like any normal chimney. However, the locals believe that it was used
as a ventilation shaft. Still, there are many people that have other thought.
Some say that it is just an unfinished mansion built in those days while others
claim that it is a light house to be. Until today, no one knows the right
purpose of this chimney and this is why it is such mysterious.”

Labuan War Memorial

“Labuan
War Cemetery is a Commonwealth World War II graveyard. Many of the personnel
buried in this cemetery, including Indian and Australian troops, were killed
during the Japanese invasion of Borneo or the Borneo campaign of 1945. Others
were prisoners of war in the region. This graveyard was erected by Commonwealth
War Graves Commission.” - Wikipedia

Tanjung Purun Beach

One of the non-famous
beach in Labuan.

All in all. It was worth a trip considering I have never set foot in Labuan before. The town is pretty quiet and driving around the island would probably take less than 3hours.

However, I will definitely be back for wreck-diving, another famous activity here in Labuan :)

Woke up late today since I had to wait for my friend to finish work in the afternoon before going out around Labuan Island. Don't feel like going out alone anyway. Destinations for the day were mostly on the other side of the island.

Surrender Point Memorial

Located at the West side of the island, near Pantai
Layang-layangan. Pantai laying-layangan is a 2008 UN Beach. In other words, it
was awarded to its cleanliness and view. Surrender Point is the location where
the Japanese surrender North Borneo to the Australian at the end of WWII

Nearby is the Peace
Park, a Japanese garden. The garden is quite big and a great place to take a
stroll or jog.

Sunset view

This side of the island
is the best point to see the sunset. We purposely chosen the time so that we
would be able to see the sunset. There are a lot of places to view them along
the way, either at the beach or at the wave breakers along the beaches. I had
my view at Pantai Batu Manikar.

Anjung Ketam

Being in Labuan won’t be
completed without eating seafood. This time our dinner is located at Anjung
Ketam, Tg Aru. There are few other restaurants along the road but I think this
place is one of the most popular one.

Ordering is typical at
other seafood restaurant. U choose ur sea creatures and they’ll cook for u. I ate
my favorite food – tempura squid, chili crab and some veggies. Pretty simple
but very filling. Compared to the place I ate at Labuan town, the taste is
almost similar. But take note, there are minimum weight when ordering. E.g crab
has to be at least 1kg, squid has to be at least 250grams.

By the time we're done, it's almost 10pm. Being in Borneo, 10pm here is practically more like 11pm so it's straight to the bed.

Saturday, November 09, 2013

Note: Now and then, I will start including some of the product review that I feel like writing. Pardon me if u feel that it's annoying :pThis will be my 1st ever written review. I do appreciate those who make time writing their opinion of the products they have and it really helps a lot for people who wanted to have few says of others in making their decision whether to try and buy a product or not.So here's the star of the entry.

I was looking for hair remover for my legs. I had previously try using Veet Wax Strips but i found out that the strips stick to each other after I have opened them for a while. Let me explain if u don't understand what I mean. In a box, there are 20 strips. I usually use 3 strips every time I was. Due to I only wax maybe every 3 weeks, I ended up keeping the balance of the unused strips for a while. The trouble comes when the glue on the strips stick to each other. 1 strip can be separated into 2 sides. When I peel the strips apart, some of the glue on 1 side sticks to the other side. Leaving patches of glue, which makes it ineffective when waxing.

So, I went for a hunt for hair remover. Just for the sake of trying. I know hair remover doesn't remove the hair from the roots so the hair will grow faster but I'll give it a try. I was looking around the shelf on Watson when I saw Palmer's No Blade Cream. It was actually on sale. Can't recall how much it worth exactly, but it was around RM16 for a 125g of tube.

The product is PINK in color and heck, the smell stinks. Well.... it has the same smell as other hair remover in the market.

From the box:

For softer, smoother skin. Longer lasting results.

From Palmer's, an advanced hair remover cream that effectively dissolves away unwanted hair. * This fast-acting formula, enriched with moisturizing Cocoa butter and vitamin E, works in as little as 4 minutes and leaves your skin soft and smooth with longer lasting results than shaving.

Use on legs, arms, underarms and bikini areas.

DIRECTIONS:

Wet area thoroughly where hair needs to be removed. Apply evenly with spatula over hair, covering completely. Do not rub in. Leave on for 4 minutes (maximum 10 minutes). Remove with spatula or washcloth. Rinse thoroughly. Pat Dray.

WARNING:

It is imperative to test the product before each use, following directions, on a small area where hair is to be remove. Wait 24 hours. If irritation or rash occurs do not use. Do not use on recently tweezed areas or on irritated, inflamed or broken skin.

I use the product as per direction before I take my shower. That is put the product on, leave it for about 6mins and then get ready for shower.

Start removing the product from the skin (starting from the 1st leg that I put the product on) using the given spatula. Remove it in a vertical line starting from your ankle up to your knee. I use with DRY spatula. Repeat until your done on 1 leg and move to the other.

Finally, have your shower ; )

I use Lux Shower Cream so I would lather up especially on the area I use to make sure the smell goes away and later on put some Vaseline lotion on to make sure my skin won't dry off.

Result: (sorry no pics here)

This product works really good. It actually removed 98% of my hair. Not sure whether I got the % right but it really works! Do note that during removal, I do felt some kind of sensation on my feet where the product was still there but it's not painful nor itchy. Something like when ure scratching your legs.

I think the reason why I lather up my shower cream was to remove the product residue entirely from my legs as I have read in other people's review that their legs becomes red with burning sensation when the product stays too long.

Conclusion:

Would I repurchase? Yes!

I don't know how long will it take for my hair to grow back as I just removed them 2 days ago. As of now, no hair yet :)

Saturday, July 13, 2013

Royal RegaliaBuilt for the 1992 Silver Jubilee of Sultan of Brunei ascension, this is where the collection of ceremonial regalia and gifts to the Sultan is kept and displayed for public to see. Entrance fee was free and the building is opened daily. You are not allowed to bring a camera in (leave at the reception) but once you’re done with the main gallery, ure allowed to take photos at the front gallery. The main item here is the royal coronation carriage surrounded by the regalia from the royal crowning ceremony in which the current crowned sultan was pulled through the streets of the city.

The Regalia is my final visiting place when I was in Brunei. We’re
done on time close to 4pm and went directly to the ferry terminal. Luckily the
ticket counter was opened so I managed to get my ticket back to Labuan.

All in all, I really had an express tour! Around Bandar Seri
Begawan in 2hours hehehe. Before departing, Uncle Saiful and Aunt Alina invited
me again for a visit, next time I could drive around myself. I definitely need
to come back someday to go around Brunei thoroughly.

What’s unique about the Kampung Air (Water Village) is that there are no bridge that connects the mainland to the village. U have to use the water taxi to get around the village. One way trip is charged 50cents and if I’m not mistaken, the tour around the village is B$20. Water taxis embark in front of the Yayasan Sultan Haji Hassanal Bolkiah in the centre of town and the water village itself. All of the Water Village buildings are constructed on stilts above the Brunei River.

Taman Haji Sir Muda Omar Ali Saifuddien

More like a dataran in the middle of the city. At the time of visit, the place in the midst of preparing for the Sultan of Brunei’s birthday.

Tea – AyamKu
Restaurant

Before heading to the
Royal Regalia, we had a pit stop at the local KFC named AyamKu. Actually, we
bought some food since Insyiraah was hungry. And by having food, they could
just eat in the car while me and Aunt Alina had a quick visit into the Regalia.

First stop was Istana Nurul Iman. This is the official residence
of the Sultan of Brunei and the seat of Brunei governments. Civilians are not
allowed to enter the castle and its compound so I was only able to get photos
from the main gate.

“Upon completion, Istana Nurul Iman, became the largest residential palace in the world and the largest single family residence ever built. To be considered for the Guinness World Record, the palace must have once been intended for use as a royal residence, and only the actual combined area of the palace’s indoor floors (a measurement commonly known as floorspace) is considered. As measured by these standards, Guinness World Records currently considers Istana Nurul Iman to hold the title as the “world's largest palace.”- Wikipedia

Sultan Omar Ali Saifuddien Mosque

This mosque was completed in 1958 and is a must place to visit if
ure in Brunei. It is considered as one of the most beautiful mosque in the Asia
Pacific. The most distinct thing about the build is the pure gold dome. The mosque
is surrounded by a man-made lake with a ceremonial barge at the side.

Woke up early to make sure I would be able to get the
earliest ferry to Brunei. Reached the ferry counter around 7.30am and there
were 2 ticket counters opened where 1 is for domestic and 1 for international. Well,
domestic is for Menumbok, Kota Kinabalu(KK) etc and International is Brunei. Queue
for domestic was very long and I heard the ticket to KK that day already sold
out (don’t know why a lot of people going to KK during Chinese New Year). One way
ticket to Brunei costs RM35. There are 2 class and this is for 2nd
class. I saw in the ferry that 1st class has bigger individual chair
(like in a 3-seater bus) and more private space. Anyway, you cannot buy return
ticket at the counter. Return ticket from Brunei to Labuan has to be bought at
Brunei’s Ferry terminal itself.

Since it’s still early, I went for breakfast at the mamak
shop across the street. There were quite a lot of people. The food price here
was not as expensive as I thought, almost similar to KL.

Journey to Brunei took 1.5hrs and as I suspected, the ferry
was empty hahaha! I got the whole row to myself. The aircond wasn’t that cold
either and there’s a movie played but I can’t remember what it was.

Custom clearance was smooth as there’re not many people
around. Upon arrival outside, I straight went to the ticket counter which is
located to the left of the arrival hall. To be exact, it is located directly in
front of departure hall. Don’t fret, the ferry terminal is very small. U won’t
get lost. Unfortunately for me, all of the counters were closed. I (and a lot
of others there) waited for an hour when I finally gave Uncle Saiful a call.
Uncle Saiful is my friend’s uncle who is living in Brunei. Coincidentally we met
earlier when I went to my friends’ brothers’ house in Shah Alam. He’s returning
from Malaysia the same day as my arrival. Since it’s already 11.30am, I thought
he must have arrived.

11.50am, Uncle Saiful and his wife, Aunt Alina picked me up
and brought me to their house. We had a chat and after lunch, we started our
tour. Well, they’re asking me to just spend the night there since the time will
be very tight if I were to return with the 4.30pm ferry on the very day. Basically,
I will only hv 2hours in Brunei. They insisted that I stay since I hvn’t bought
the return ticket but I had to decline as if I stay, I won’t have time to go
around Labuan.

Around 2pm, we departed from the house- me, Uncle Saiful,
Aunt Alina and their 2 youngest kids, Insyiraah and Amsyar; and the journey
began!

Sabah Museum is located at Bukit Istana Lama. Walking from the lodge took us
30mins. The complex contains the main museum, gardens, a zoo, a 2-phased heritage village and the
Islamic Civilization Museum. Entrance fee is RM2 for adult and free for
students (with uniforms or student ID).

The main building also houses the Art
Gallery and the building itself is located on top of the hill. So u need to
walk to get to other exhibition center. For us, we went to the (outside) café first
due to thirst and saw the cultural village next to it. Turned out, this was the
1st phase on the village. The place was run down and no one was around
for a tour or any briefing. The traditional houses were built by its native and
u can wonder around in and out the area but honestly, it’s pretty creepy for us
to go in. it was dark and abandoned.

After that, we walked back to the main
building. Once u stepped in, ure welcomed by the huge skeletons of a whale.
This largest Bryde Whale ever found in Asia beached itself near the shallow
water of Gaya Island back in December 2006. No photos here as photography is
not allowed in the main building.

Once we’re done with our stroll in the
museum, we walked down the hill towards the Islamic Civilization Museum. It’s
pretty close, just a 5mins walk. In the museum, there are a lot of artifacts and
replicas of the swords during the Prophet’s time. Again, no photographing allowed.

Last stop before going back is the 2nd
phase of the cultural village. We were hoping that the 2nd village will
be more maintained but boy, we’re wrong. Well, the houses are newer but it is as
empty as the 1st village. What a disappointment. Well, I guess it’ll
be livelier during school holidays where more people will flock in to the
museum complex.

Among all, I think a visit in the main
building was the best.

We left the museum complex around 4.00pm (can't believe we spent more than 2 hours there!). The walk back to the Lodge felt faster this time. picked up our bags and headed to the airport at 5.00pm. Note: Please expect VERY EXPENSIVE taxi ride if u ask the reception to call. We paid RM30!! I bet u can get cheaper rate if u stop the taxi ur self outside.

KKIA

By the time we reached the airport, the check in counters were packed. Typical of AirAsia, there is no designated counters for specific destination. Everybody queue to the same counter. What's worst is that in our line, few groups faced excess baggage problem. Come on people, don't pack 2 big bags to check in if ure travelling with 5 adults and expect it'll be under 25kg! Don't be a cheapskate and cause problem to others!!! It took us 1 hour to drop our bags.

Found this lodge
when I was bloghopping. Review in TripAdvisor was good and the pricing was not
bad either. I was having some trouble as to decide where to stay, either
Api-api, Kg. Air or Gaya Street. Well, I settled down at Kg. Air which is close
to the Sinsuran Night Market/Filipino Market. It’d be easier for last minute
shopping since the markets and malls are close by. Booked in Agoda for RM180 for 2 nights.

Attractions wise,
Gaya Sunday market, Filipino market, Handicraft markets, Center Point mall are
only a 5mins walk away. Waterfront Esplanade (where Hard Rock Café is located)
is about 15mins walk. However, the Jetty is whopping 30 mins away ‘sigh’ and
this is pretty important especially once u returned from your island hopping
trip as the return trip to ur accommodation is not included in the package.
Atkinson Clock Tower and Signal Hill are closer to the Jetty and u have to
climb up the hill to get there. In our case, this was not a problem as we
dropped by earlier on before returning our rental car.

Anyway, back to
the lodge. We got the room G03. The room is at the ground floor, all the way to
the back. The room was small with a very tiny window. We never opened the
curtain as u can see the windows from the building behind so we wouldn't want
to be peeked. The room is pretty small for both us and definitely will not fit
non-Asians. Heck, I think even guys will feel very cramped inside. Imagine u
have a double bed in the room with 1-foot spacing with the walls around it,
that’s how big the room was. 1 thing that was really a downside for us was that
there was only 1 power plug so charging our tablets, hps and cameras was a bit
troublesome.

On the positive
side, the room and toilet was very clean. And for some reason, they provided
shower gel. Same with our acco in Kundasang. English breakfast (read as toast,
egg, cereal, coffee and tea) is provided between 7-10am. Of course, the
reception can help u in anything u need (e.g calling taxi to the airport). There
are plenty of brochures on things to do and explore, and a PC provided at the
lounge for u to use. Wanna watch TV? No worries, u can head to the upper floor
where there is a TV lounge.

All in all, if u
don’t mind the space, this lodge is definitely a thumbs up.

Friday, July 12, 2013

The day started as early as 7am.
Quick breakfast of toast at Lavender Lodge then off to the market.

Gaya
Street Sunday Market.

This market only opens during Sunday
morning (6am-1pm). From the lodge, it was only a 5mins walk. To me, the market
is similar to Satok Weekend market in Kuching, only slightly smaller. There are
plenty of food stalls selling food for breakfast (light food), seaweeds, vegetables
and fruits. There are plenty of clothing stalls as well as handicrafts. Apart from
that, there are few stalls actually selling animals; from fishes to puppies. I couldn’t
find any stall selling fresh seafood like I did in Kuching, so you don’t need
to worry for the smell or the dripping water or puddle on the walkway.

Since this was pretty much a walkthrough,
I was searching for magnets stating “Kota Kinabalu” (but until the end of the
trip, I failed to do so) and food for breakfast (after some toast earlier). Well,
nothing caught my eyes so we ended up just walking to see what kind of market
Gaya Street had.

Diving/Snorkel
at T.A.R Marine Park.

At the end of Gaya Sunday Market, we
directly walked to the Ferry. We reached there around 8am (meet up time was
8.20am). Nothing much we can do other than people watching. Food stalls not yet
opened but there were plenty of people waiting for (maybe) their island hopping
trip. Surprisingly, the indoor futsal center opened at 8.15am which is very
early for me.

We saw a couple of mat salleh and after a while, more of
the dive center staffs and divers appeared. Turned out, the meeting point
inside on the upper level of the futsal place was a smaller dive shop. 8.30am,
we’re all hustled up to the dive shop for group introduction and safety
briefing. The dive shop of choice was Diverse Borneo.

The main reason Diverse Borneo was
chosen was both on the diving and snorkeling trip. Both trip utilizes the same
boat and have appointed guides (divemaster and snorkeling guide). Since my
cousin is not a diver, this is a trip we both can enjoy. She was a bit afraid
since she knew there was a very high probability that she’ll be the only one
doing snorkeling that day (and she was right hehehe). However, this turned out
to be very advantage to her. There was only 1 snorkeler so the guide could
focus on entertaining her only. A 3-dive trip costs RM250 and a snorkeling trip costs RM90.

During the briefing, we were told
that our dive/snorkel point will be around Sapi Island and Gaya Island. It’ll
be 2 points in Sapi and 1 point near Gaya, depending on the weather. My cousin
and her guide were dropped off first at Sapi before the divers proceed to our 1st
dive spot. On the boat, there were 1 guy Zam doing his Advance Open Water, his
instructor Apek, me, my buddy Syafiq and our divemaster Alwee (5 divers).

After
our 1st dive, we parked our boat at Sapi Jetty for our surface
interval. Got a chance to see my cousin (in the water) before we saw the rain
coming. It rained a bit and after an hour, we dove for our 2nd dive
there before our lunch break at 12. Lunch was provided in the package and by
1.30pm, we’re back into the water for our final dive. My cousin told me that to
her, the snorkeling trip wasn’t like usual. Usually, the boat just floats there
and let u snorkel around on your own; or they drop u off at the island and u
wander around. This time, she had the guide who was really excited to show her
everything and turned out that she snorkeled the same time that we dived.

We concluded our trip earlier than
schedule, arriving at Jesselton Jetty around 3pm. The thought of walking back
1.5km was dreadful but we were saved by Zam who offered a ride. The guilt is
still there for soaking his car huhuhu. Jesselton Terminal wasn’t that good in
providing restroom facilities. I don’t know how it is possible to only have 1
restroom for the entire jetty plaza. What worst is that there are only 2 cubicles,
sharing for toilet and changing room. Heck, Syafiq and Zam changed outside
behind the stalls. Then again, it’s always easier for guys.

It was already 4pm by the time we
reached Lavender Lodge. A quick hot shower and we slept like a log after that. I
started feeling feverish and apparently it didn’t get better even after a
3-hour sleep. My cousin went for food hunt alone that night, and I only ate
bread and Panadol. By 11, we both slept due to fatigue.

Wednesday, July 10, 2013

After checking in and returning the
car at Api-api Center, it’s time for our walk around KK. Mother Nature was not
on our side so we’re in rush to find shelter. Thank God it didn’t rain all the
way through the afternoon.

Waterfront
Esplanade.

This boardwalk is said to have the
best view for sunset. But when we went there, it was raining heavily. Our main
reason going there was to visit the Hard Rock Shop. The shop was hidden from
the main road by the big residence in construction next to it. There are also
food center there but unfortunately the shop I was looking for the cheese
banana fritters was closed so we didn’t stop.

Filipino
Market/ Sinsuran Night Market.

A daily night market were local
catch is sold. Fresh seafood is the main attraction where u can order up and
get them cooked on the spot to savour.

Merlin
Statue.

Located in front of Hyatt Hotel, this
giant statue was officiated when KK was inaugurated as a city on 2nd
of February, 2000. To get to here, we walked all the way from the Esplanade,
passing Filipino market, Central Market and the Wet Market. That was about a 1.5km
walk.

Jesselton
Ferry Terminal.

Another 1km walk up north is the
Ferry Terminal to go to the island hopping. We walked up to estimate how far
will it take to walk from the ferry to our lodge before our island trip the
next day.

Kampung
Air Night Market.

Well, we originally planned to buy
all of our souvenirs here but the night market was pretty disappointing. Nothing
much to be seen as all that’s being sold is clothing. More like the normal
night market in the Peninsular. So we had to ditch to have our dinner here.

Handicraft
Market.

Well, we walked back to the handicraft
market since we couldn’t find anything worth to buy at the night market. There are
a lot of reviews saying that buying souvenirs here are quite expensive but we’re
out of options and since we’re not buying a lot, I thought I’d be ok.

Here, I bought the I love KK shirt
for RM33, salt water pearl bracelet for RM35 and few brooches (1 dozen for
RM48).

Tuesday, July 09, 2013

Lunch stop was at the same Anjung
Selera in Telipok and we headed directly to our first 2 stops in KK.

1st
stop: Signal Hill Observatory.

This viewing platform is the place
for amazing views of the city and also the Tunku Abdul Rahman Marine Park. It is
located on top of the Bendera Hill. It is due to its location that we decided
to go to here first since we still have our rental car.

2nd
stop: Atkinson Clock Tower.

Close to the Observatory is the Atkinson
Clock Tower. The clock tower was built in the memory of the 1st
District Officer of Jesselton who died due to malaria. Built in 1903, this
structure survived the destruction of Jesselton town during WWII. It was built
with wood with no nails.

No operating hours restriction or entrance fess for both of the attractions.